


In the Wake of Disaster (MtG Month of the Ship - Day 5)

by Wolkemesser



Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: Dominaria, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 20:52:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18373871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolkemesser/pseuds/Wolkemesser
Summary: This one’s a Gruulfriends AU, in the sense that it takes place in a timeline where Liliana was forthright with the others about her demons before joining the Gatewatch.





	In the Wake of Disaster (MtG Month of the Ship - Day 5)

“Nissa, wait!”

Chandra jogged after her companion, moving quickly despite the pain and fatigue. Behind her, Liliana was tending to Gideon, trying to get him up on his feet. She could hear the necromancer calling after the both of them, her voice a mixture of irritation and desperation.

Nissa wasn’t far ahead, but she moved quickly. Chandra felt a pit of dread in her stomach that, at any moment, the elf would simply decide to planeswalk away, but she just…walked.

Eventually, once the others were out of sight, Nissa came to a stop. They had left the field behind and now stood just within the edge of a forest; possibly the creepiest one Chandra had ever laid eyes on, but the trees seemed to comfort Nissa, and she fell against one.

“Nissa…?”

She didn’t respond. Chandra stepped up closer. She started to put a hand on Nissa’s shoulder but thought better of it.

“Nissa…what can I do?”

“Just stay.” Nissa sounded even wearier than Chandra felt.

Chandra sat as close as she could without encroaching too much on Nissa’s space. Nissa was shivering, so Chandra tried to emanate as much heat as possible without introducing any open flame to the thick growth of plant life around them.

For a while, Nissa just stared out into the trees. Chandra noticed shifting in the branches and thin grasses around them, as Nissa probed through Dominaria’s leylines.

A half-hour passed.

“Nissa, we need to…I think we should go back. Help Lili with Gids. We’ve gotta find Jace”

“He almost killed you.”

“What?”

Nissa turned to Chandra. Her face was streaked with tears, streaming from her emerald eyes. “Bolas almost killed you, and I threw everything I had at him but couldn’t _do_ anything. I almost lost you.”

“We…we made it out. There wasn’t anything any of us could do for each other, Nissa. You can’t blame yourse-”

“I _can’t_ lose you, Chandra. I love you.”

Chandra bit her lip, and stood. The words made more than one kind of chill run up her back, but her mind flashed back to the conversation by the fountain,  on Amonkhet. She had to be careful how she responded.

“We…we love you too, Nissa. You know that we’d do anything for you. Even Lili.”

“No, I mean…” Nissa looked even more distraught. “…You’re all important to me, but I love _you_. I love you so much. When he was holding you like that I…I knew it. I knew and it scares me. I _can’t_ lose you.” She took a step toward Chandra, but froze up, looking uncertainly at the pyromancer.

“It’s fine Nissa. Whatever you’re…you know, comfortable with.”

Nissa wrapped Chandra in an embrace. Even with her armor on, Chandra could feel the elf’s strength. Feel Nissa hugging her carefully to not worsen the damage Bolas had done.

“I lost so much of Zendikar, Chandra. Everything I knew and loved.” Nissa sniffed, failing against a rising tide of sobs. “I can’t stand to lose my whole world again.”

Chandra didn’t say anything. For a long while she just hugged Nissa in return, trying to warm her as best she could manage, letting the elf bury her forehead against her shoulder.

“It was a dead world, Nissa. We made a mistake. Please don’t doubt yourself.”

It sounded horrible and weak in Chandra’s mind, but Nissa just nodded into her shoulder, so she kept going.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen. Or how any of this stuff is going to end. But I know we’ll clobber him next time. We’ll plan…better.”

Nissa laughed. It was a laugh smothered in sobs, but they didn’t sound as bad anymore.

“And…and Nissa?”

The elf pulled her head up and looked back at Chandra. The multiverse’s biggest lump built up in the back of her throat, and Chandra’s face felt hotter than any pyromancy could have accounted for, but she squeezed the words out.

“I…um, I also love you. Um, for what it’s worth.” She felt like she might combust. “I…I actually love you a lot.”

A smile. A small one, but it meant more to Chandra right then than anything else in the world. “I know.”

Nissa took Chandra’s arm and they started back toward their friends, leaning on each other to ease the long walk ahead.

_The above is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC._


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